Adventures in painting miniatureshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com
Recording adventures in miniature painting by an semi-talented painter whose skills are not as good as he would like them to be...Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:14:10 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngAdventures in painting miniatureshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com
Gaslands carshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/gaslands-cars/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/gaslands-cars/#commentsSun, 10 Dec 2017 21:38:47 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11835Continue reading →]]>So with the new Osprey publication of a simple car combat game using templates similar to X-Wing (called Gaslands) we had to give it a go. Yes another case of the magpie syndrome but this is something that we have talked about in the past so it’s nice to see a professional style game for this. The plan is to play the game this week or two but to do that I needed some cars to play with! So a trip to the local discount store and I had a selection of hotwheels cars in my possession. Certainly some of the cheapest gaming toys I have bought for a while. But they don’t really look right for games without some reworking etc. I saw somewhere a statement that it’s a toys when wheels move while a model when the wheels don’t. This seems like a good definition for changing the toys to gaming models – but I wanted to do a little more than that.

Now after looking online there were a lot of blog posts and YouTube videos of customizing/painting Hot Wheels models but these were mostly for collectors and display models vs for car fighting game. So I thought I’d just have a go and try my usual style of undercoating and painting. Over all that seems to have worked out of though and you see the resulting three vehicles below.The first car I tried this with was some spooky ‘Frangula’ car. You can see the original version picture below. Although it could be used as is I thought it was worth redoing as this was a little to garish even for me!

I used a combination of white glue and super glue to stick the wheels in position. Then a did it a good coat of rustoloium black undercoat and away I went with painting for a ‘mad max’ style vehicle.

I used reds browns and a black wash to give a slightly beat up look. Part of the reason for choosing this model is it did not need any real modification for the wild combat look. It even has that pod on the hood which can easily be a weapon.I did the Kaji symbol of fast on the top of the vehicle as looking at it it seemed appropriate and needed something. I could have centered it better but as this is one of the first attempts I have made of doing something like this I was not that unhappy with the result. I think I’ll get do that again at some point though, but try to center it better.Just a shot at the rear here – you can see the highlights on the rear chrome and the engine from this angle.So after doing that I though I would try a more customized car. Still not going made though at this point. This is a an old camero with a spare Flames of War tank turret . It also has extra tank tracks across the windows as side protection. The same undercoating and a matte finish like the above car gives this a beat up look.This could be a partner with the first car or part of a different team. I thought the colours would end up being similar but I think I used more browns on this one. The car certainly looks weighted down which suits it having things like armor and a turret, thats for sure.Lastly, I tried painting a more sporty car. This one I did not finish with matte varnish but just left it with a coat of satin (future floor polish) varnish. The gloss gives it a different and new car look compared to the previous two. The car started as a black one with all the upper work glass. It looked ok at best so I like the final effect on this.Rather than putting weapons on this I thought to paint danger markings on the headlights – to indicate that there is a weapon behind them. After all the Bond cars always are fast but have weapons inboard so I thought this one would as well. Sleek and deadly.So there we are – some repainted Hot Wheels cars ready for the table this week to try out a new game. I’ll let you know what we think of the game after we play it.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/gaslands-cars/feed/4mellis1644img_4062Fangula hot wheelsimg_4069img_4068img_4067img_4066img_4065img_4064img_4063German halftracks and anti-tank gunshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/german-halftracks-and-anti-tank-guns/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/german-halftracks-and-anti-tank-guns/#respondMon, 04 Dec 2017 14:19:46 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11786Continue reading →]]>So back to my current big project – building a full 15mm German army. One if the things I did not have were any halftracks for troop transport. So some Sd.Kfz. 251/1 were needed. These are D models – from build from ’43 from what I understand.I really don’t want or need a huge number of these but they are very much part of German tactical doctrine, so I should have a few of them.

Luckily, for me I got these three as a set as part of a free give away from a subscription deal of miniature wargames illustrated magazine a few years ago. So it seemed fitting to paint them up as part of this projectThe crew figures are from the kit (it did not come with a full load of troops) but I have to say these do not look like fun vehicles to spend a long time in. I suspect that it was a tight fit for a squad of troops in them, especially with all their kit. But better than walking and with more protection, so I suspect they were welcome transports all the same.As these are late models (Aust D) with the more angular doors than earlier versions. So it seemed fitting to paint them like my later armour. They will work well providing protection for the grenadiers who often used them. If I use them for earlier models then I will deal with the incorrect models and paint scheme. Then I have some anti-tank guns. These are again late war models – very big guns really and useful against even the biggest Russian or allied tanks. I did the bases like the rest of the infantry but included a few bushes for added impact. I think they really came out nice in the end. They are I think PaK 40’s but will also work for PaK 43/41’s as well. They won’t work for earlier guns (which were much smaller) but at that point the Germans were on the offensive and anti-tank guns are much better in defensive scenarios than when attacking.These models came from the used bin of my local gaming store. They were very roughly painted and at least one of the gun barrels was broken. So it was a deal I could not refuse as they were cheap. The basing was awful as well. But I repaired them and although not well painted they were at least not thickly painted so I could touch up and repaint them without stripping the figures. The basing took more effort but I scraped it all off and fixed it. My painting is not sat an expert level but they are now good wargaming standard.So in the end all these models were obtained at bargain prices, but now join the ranks of my German forces like the rest. They all add some capabilities my force did not have, so so that’s an added bonus.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/german-halftracks-and-anti-tank-guns/feed/0mellis1644img_3992img_3991img_3990img_3994img_3995CY6! November game 2017https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/cy6-november-game-2017/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/cy6-november-game-2017/#commentsMon, 27 Nov 2017 00:35:59 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11810Continue reading →]]>It’s become a bit of a tradition for me to run an air game at the end of November – which fits with the US Thanksgiving vacation. I started this as I could pretty much guarantee that I won’t be traveling that week on business. This year was no exception to this, so 5 of us got together and had a game of Check your six this week. Yet again this was using my Japanese vs. US planes. I have multiple requests now to finish painting my WW2 Western Europe models so that in the future we can try a German vs. US bomber raid. So watch this space for more on that – likely next year.

However, this time it was 9 Betty bombers with 4 Zero escorts vs. a flight of American aircraft scrambled to intercept them. Using the Guadalcanal as the setting the US players got 4 Wildcats and 2 Aircobras. The Betty’s were in a single defensive line, as generally they are pretty weak with LMG guns to the front and side, but do have a ‘sting in the tail’ with the single LVC in the rear.The American’s started well in front with 2 flights high and another lower than the bombers. The bombers were at level 3 giving the most Altitude options for the fighters to use. One pair of the Zero’s pulled out and headed for the Aircobra’s coming from the high left. Meanwhile, the other zero’s (controlled by me) decided to stay high and behind the bombers- so they could pounce on the Americans when they came close.The Zero’s on the left side I assume expected the Aircobra’s to dive and get ready to hit the bombers. So they started to turn and dive, but lost a lot of speed doing it. They also made themselves a potential target for the incoming American fighters to get into a dogfight with. Meanwhile, the Aircobra’s just kept coming and did not dive, keeping them safe from the Zero’s pre-emptive move. The Wildcats to the front and left were set up for a dual high and low pass in frontal attack. The first Shooting was on that frontal attack and one of my Zero’s managed to take out a Wildcat on the first shot! So first blood to the Japanese. In return the Wildcat’s managed to damage two of the Betty’s – but both rolled well enough that they survived that first flurry of shots. The robustness of Japanese planes is always an issue compared to the much stronger US ones.Over the other side of the bomber flight, the Airccobra’s got into a great position to take out some bombers but missed completely! The Zero’s on that side were behind them but due to the loss of speed in turning they were now trying to close on them to get into good firing aspects. Then came the turning of the Wildcats to get behind the bombers. This gave my Zero’s a set of close targets for them to go for. At the end of the turn the Japanese were still all ok but one of the Wildcat’s had Airframe damage. I use white pipe cleaners for airframe and black for engine damage markers. The build strength of the American planes saved them several times, In the next turn I then took a risk and went for a head to head shot with the Japanese ace vs. a Wildcat. I thought the risk worth it to get another great shot off. I could have modified the move to mean that I did not have a shot but neither did the Wildcat. That risk did not work out well though, as I missed the but Japanese ace went down in flames…So much for taking the aggressive option vs. trying to play it safe.The Wildcats finished the turn to come around behind the bombers and got into a great position to start to take them out. Unfortunately for them that also continued to exposed them to the rear cannon’s of the bombers and plus the remaining escort Zero’s. One of the bomber rear gunners was on target and another Wildcat went down, in exchange for another damaged bomber. Both the other wildcats were damaged by this time so things were starting to look ok for the Japanese. As a bonus my Zero was set up in a great place for dealing with the remaining Wildcats, along with help from the rear gunners of the Betty’s.Over the other side the Aircobra’s had destroyed one of the bombers but a great shot from a LMG in the front of a bomber had managed to damage one of them in return! The lone front LMG’s are very weak but heck once in a while even they can cause a problem for the robust American planes. The Zero’s were chasing and starting to get closer but not before the Aircobra’s would have more shots on the bombers.My poisoning of the Zero on the Wildcats tail came to nothing as I rolled an out of ammo hit and still failed to take down a wildcat. In return the Wildcats each took down a bomber and then they too both ran out of ammo. A few too many sticky fingers on the trigger over this side. So after a laugh about it all three fighters turned for home/dove out of the game. We joke about ramming each other but decided to play it more realistically. As the two Wildcat players had both their planes now out of the game they went and played a quick game of Shadespire (but more on that another time), which left 3 of us still playing. The Aircobra’s continued their great move through the bomber group, but their shots were far from effective. Poor rolling for them on hits and then better than average robustness rolls meant their great move was not playing off. They did manage to damage some of the bombers but so far only 3 bombers were shot down. The two Zero’s from the left were starting the close the gap on them as well.Soon the Zero’s got in decent range of the Aircobra’s and with their moves now the Betty rear gunners could also target them. That in combination took the already damaged Aircobra out of action. That left a single Aircobra, in action but that now took down another of the bombers. The Zero’s now closed and like predators quickly dispatched the last American. That left 3 undamaged bombers and 2 damaged out of the original flight of 9. Meanwhile, one Zero and 2 each of the Wildcats and Aircobra’s were shot down. So a close and bloody encounter for all sides.In the end I declared it a slight American win but one which the Japanese did reasonably well in considering. As always everyone had fun and it’s great to get a fun game of CY6! Not too much dogfighting this time, but a couple of effective runs on the bombers so next time I think we’ll have to mix it up with a different scenario.

P.S. Sorry if you saw something hockey with this post. WordPress seemed to mess up the pictures so I had to repair that when posted.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/cy6-november-game-2017/feed/2mellis1644Necromunda – original Delaque ganghttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/necromunda-original-delaque-gang/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/necromunda-original-delaque-gang/#commentsFri, 17 Nov 2017 21:14:50 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11773Continue reading →]]>Well with the release of the new Necomunda from GW imminent I decided that I should use this as a trigger to get some of my old gangs finished. I played a lot of Necomunda when originally released, but it was mainly the Cawdor gang which I used at the time. However, I bought most, but unfortunately not all, of the gangs then but did not paint them all. I did a touch up of the Goliath’s a while back – you can see that here. Another set I had was House Delaque. I had started painting these a couple of years after they were released but I never completed them. So nothing like the current time to finish that and I dug these out of storage to do just that. I also have tried the ‘new’ Games Workshop basing paints on these.

So below you can see the whole group together. I have 13 of the original metal figures which should be enough for most games and gives some flexibility. As normal after this group shot I’ll show each mini with front and back views.The bald with a great coat look for these mini’s made me make their skin very light. I believe that was in their background as well. Lets be honest the background of Necomunda means that all the gangs should be fairly pail – I doubt they get much sunlight to tan themselves without working on it. The fact that these guys all have ‘Riddick’ style eye glasses meant that this was emphasized even more in my head. So very pail skin it is for them all.As I mentioned the basing is done using the ‘cracking’ GW paint. I’m actually quite surprised as how well that has come out. I added some rocks on most of the bases just to give it more textured aspect. I also went over with a slightly paler color to add extra visual depth to the bases. I have seen it I’d be happy with them not having as big/obvious piles of rocks on the bases but that does still work. My only comment/feedback to anyone not trying these paints and wanting to is that because of the cracking of the paint the bases do needed a couple of layers of varnish to hold the effect in place. Without that the paint is easy to wear off. So I would not use this paint without a varnish afterwards. I will be using the paint again though for basing as it gives an interesting look.I decided to use the bright green and grey colours for the main colours of the gang. These work well with the pale skin to give a quite unique look to the models. I’m not sure what the official color scheme is for these but I usually try to avoid that as anyway. My painting is not good enough to compare with the best of the best – so having a slightly different color scheme means comparisons are harder. It works well for my ego that way anyway.Although not going for a purposeful for a ‘dirty look’ on the models I did wash the coats with a strong black wash. This was to give them some texture and character. I tried without doing that (just painting highlights etc and was unimpressed with the end result.

You’ll notice I also have numbered/marked the bases. There is no way that without that I’d be able to easily differentiate the figures in play. They are quite similar at the game table level at least. So they work well as a combined street gang, keeping to the same style.Finally, below are the leader and the heavy weapon guy. These are the heavy hitters for the command and firepower of the gang. They will be involved in most games. I guess we’ll see with the new version whether that’s still true.So there we are. Not the best painted mini’s (as always) but perfectly acceptable and a good table standard for playing some skirmish games in 40k’s Necomunda style. They also will work well for Pulp Alley and other games.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/necromunda-original-delaque-gang/feed/4mellis1644img_3958img_3959img_3960img_3961img_3962img_3963img_3964img_3966img_3965img_3967img_3968Horizon Wars – the rest of the mechwarrior figshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/horizon-wars-the-rest-of-the-mechwarrior-figs/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/horizon-wars-the-rest-of-the-mechwarrior-figs/#respondSat, 11 Nov 2017 15:44:40 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11299Continue reading →]]>It’s been a busy week of work but I still have a little time to show the end of another project. As I said last time I got some mechwarrior models for free and decided to get them ready for Horizon Wars. This’s means those models will get some use and look different. This also shows what can be done with a very small amount of creativity for rebranding models. This post is the second part of that work focused on the smaller models I got. I just had 2 bases of mechwarrior infantry and 5 bigger small mech/powersuit type models. There were no repeats in the set.

So knife in hand I took these off their bases and separated the models, then touched up the paint jobs and based them differently. Below you can see the results of this and these will be useful for sci-fi infantry as well as vehicles. It provides me a selection of options in the 6mm sci-fi space style game I did not have.

First are 4 bases of heavy infantry – which will be power armour or special forces type models, who hit harder than their physical presence. Really these are the only models which show they are at the ‘wrong scale’, but I don’t care. I think mechwarrior was 10mm not 6mm. They will work for what I need and are useful for this type of game. I don’t have a lot of them which works out ok as there should not be many of them in any game anyway.Next are 5 sets of small robot/powered suites. In the toys I was given there were just these and no repeats. As I said these will work for various smaller vehicles (or robots) and the different sets means that even when putting two armies together I should have enough variety to provide and differentiate the various types of units on the table.All the models at least had some touch up and a wash to make them stand out and look better. They are not that bad models really but I hated the Mechwarrior basing they came in. That was all clumped together and did them no favours.Last, I include a shot of a combination of these models with a standard 6mm infantry model (actually a mortar team) in front. This gives the scale of these new figs. So these as you see can be good for vehicles or robot war machines in a future age.So there we are. A simple little rebasing and touch up project to get new life in these models. They integrate nicely with my 6mm Vietnam figs to make an interesting and cheap sci-for option for different type and time of games with the same figs.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/horizon-wars-the-rest-of-the-mechwarrior-figs/feed/0mellis1644Horizon Wars – Mechwarrior mechs/tankshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/horizon-wars-mechwarrior-mechstanks/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/horizon-wars-mechwarrior-mechstanks/#respondFri, 03 Nov 2017 21:05:57 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11292Continue reading →]]>One of my fiends game me a ‘gift box’ of toys as he was clearing out of all sorts of models and stuff. I did appreciate this and yes I’m known to hate to throw things out, so I like to try to give old models new life in games if I can. Oh and yes that does mean that I have some ‘hoarder issues’ for my gaming stuff. The Mrs tells me that ever time she looks at my pile of boxes of stuff I have. That’s of course assuming you have not already worked that out from the amount of different things which I paint and show here…

Anyways, in one of the boxes was a small collection of Wizkids Mechwarrior models. Now this is not a game that I want to play or really have any desire to. There was only a few models as well. However, one game which I do like the look of is Horizon Wars which is another blue book game published by Osprey. I have yet to play that though, in part because I have only a limited number of models for it. I have the robot/mecha I did a while back – see here for them, plus I have my 6mm Vietnam War models I can use. Noether of these provide me any real huge sci-fi tanks or mechs. So these models are perfect for that and the change was not too much work !

Although to be fair sci-fi large battle games are not really my usual cup of tea. So these may just end up on a bring an buy at some point when I decide I won’t ever get them on the table…Only time will tell I guess.So above you can see the three rebased and ‘touched up’ mechs that were in the box. I did not really change the paint jobs that much but gave them more a real world look as well as made each one very different. This should allow all three to be used in games without too much effort. In 6mm scale these will be perfect for the large mecha in Horizon wars.

Next there were four big tanks/vehicles. These are more traditional war machines. I did repaint these so each of them looks different, which allows them to be mixed as needed. The first 2 are a massive tank and a huge hover tank. These will be good units to fight other tanks or mecha, and the gun on the hover tank is huge!Next, is another tank and then a repair vehicle. This second grey repair unit will be great for scenario’s etc and gives some more flexibility in games. I doubt it would be in a normal force though but will be an interesting objective and/or target for different games.

As these were given to me then I had no choice about the combination of units etc. I have but these should be enough for smallish forces for a 2 player game. It also means that I can use all these against say someone with Epic forces and try a slightly bigger game. GW Epic never really interested me but there are quite a few people around with armies for it and it even gets some game time around here I see.So there we are. A few big things in a small scale for other types of gaming – if I ever get to playing with them.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/horizon-wars-mechwarrior-mechstanks/feed/0mellis1644Masmorra and Black Plague gameshttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/masmorra-and-black-plague-games/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/masmorra-and-black-plague-games/#respondSun, 29 Oct 2017 22:31:54 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11567Continue reading →]]>Well this weekend I had a group of friends over on Saturday and hosted a day of gaming. We played a whole series of games – include Star Trek the board game and Dominion which is a card game. However, I’m going to concentrate here on a couple we played which I have not mentioned much here so thought I would.

The first is Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia. I have painted the base figures for this game a while back (and shown them here) but had not got the game out on the table. So this was a first time for playing and we just used the base game which is in retail. It’s a light Dungeon crawler where all the players are against each other. The basic game is to get to a specific Xp level. You get Xp’s by collection treasure, disarming traps and killing monsters. After a couple of turns everyone got the idea of the rules as it’s not very complex. This does have some back stabbing and deviousness in trying to make sure that opponents don’t win but it’s not a deep thought game- but there are plenty of decisions and tactics in the game.

There are reviews of the game, including some play thoughts available on the web. That means I’m not going to go into the details on that. I will say that it keeps the game play interesting by a mechanic of die rolling to control actions you can take. You roll 6 dice (more if you get some extra power in the game) and can do the actions based on what are indicated on the dice. This is not a new mechanic but works well for this game. There is also a level of randomness in that the rooms you explore are randomly drawn as well as the treasures and monsters encountered.

Overall, I have to say I was a little skeptical of the monsters being dice vs. models (although it definitely helped to get this finished and on the table), but in the end it worked ok. Although not models, which are nice visually it really did not effect gameplay and rolling for you monster is kind of cool.

So I and the gang really enjoyed this game. Yes it’s light. But it’s a fun game and often just having a game which last an hour or two and is a fun bash with friends is exactly what is required. There is not a lot of setup time as well. So overall for me this is a winner. As I got this in a kickstarter (yes another one) the game play has definitely given me the trigger to get on painting the extra models that came with it. This game likely will go into ‘rotation’ of games I play, specifically because it’s not that deep or complex. It also has a co-op mode and a longer gameplay version. I can see it being easy to have a few minor rules mods to make to game last a little longer or harder to win, as desired. That would be by changing the target xp for winning or the number of rooms to be encountered before finding the stairs to the next level in co-op games.

Another game we played was Zombicide: Black Plague. This is another board game with miniatures from CMON. This I have to say is one of my favorite miniature board games. As it is halloween this week, it seemed only fair that we should play a game of this. Now, a couple of the really good painters in the group have painted figures of their copies of the game. So I have not got around to painting my set but I should at some point. But as a mid level complexity game, with a huge amount of replay ability but again no massive brain drain while playing. It really has atmosphere as well and overall I really like it. You can find great reviews and paint jobs on the miniatures on the web so again I’m not going to go into details on that aspect.

For the first time ever I believe, we won the game without losing a hero! This is an all players vs. the zombies in an co-op all win or lose style game. Zombicide is a great game – not that complex but deep enough to keep all the players engaged and having to think about their and other players moves. You can also add to the complexity/difficulty to the game by adding extra monsters (Abominations) or undead types in the games. There is also a whole set of fan base scenario’s for the game. The co-op nature does mean some people find the game lacking, especially if they want to complex tactical competitive gaming experience with a lot of planning. But that’s not what this game is about, if you want that type of game then this is not the game for you. It’s about beating the system with good planning and some needed luck usually.

We have played the modern version for a long time but the medieval version (Black Plague) has taken the lead for us playing multi-player co-op games. A single game is good for a couple of hours, if you don’t lose before that point and I don’t think we have had a bad game of Zombicide (either version) every! That’s really something to me.Last night we played with Davids Zombies, all painted in black and white style, like the classic horror movies. I have to say that I really like and am very impressed what he has done the bases, as well as the painting generally. I can’t match the detail of the painting but the paving stones are a great look. I think I will have to borrow that idea. Unfortunately, we had to use my unpainted hero figs… so I guess I better get on and start painting some of them. Still the game was fun even with unpainted miniatures, although the painted figs make for a better visual spectacle.

So there you are. Oh and if you are looking for a new game, I have to say either of these would be a good choice in my opinion, but of the two Zombicide Black Plague still takes the No. 1 slot.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/masmorra-and-black-plague-games/feed/0mellis1644pic2869709_mdpic2482309_mdMantic Space Marines/Enforcer troops https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/mantic-space-marinesenforcer-troops/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/mantic-space-marinesenforcer-troops/#respondMon, 23 Oct 2017 12:46:31 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11239Continue reading →]]>Well for a change here is another set of models from the Dead Zone Kickstarter I got a few years ago. These guys are the Enforcers or in reality Mantic space marines/storm troopers from what I can see. I must admit after painting them they are ok but I generally prefer the GW versions of armored troops. I guess it’s just familiarity but these guys look a little too ‘cheap tv baddies’ for me. These are ok model though, don’t get me wrong but just don’t do it for me really. However, they will get some use as well supplied security or army units etc in various sci-fi games. They may well even be a use in super hero games. After all super soilder forces or troops from the future are a common theme in such games as well. The full set of the miniatures are shown below in a group shot.So, for the first close up, I’ll show off four standard troopers. There are 2 poses here so I thought one picture would cover them all. As I have done these as a well supported force, it made sense to do them all in a uniform manner. Because of their armor these could even by future robot troops, as they do have a bit of the original robo-cop look to them.Next are the two ‘hand to hand’ figures. These both have a pistol in their left hand and some kind of blade extended from their right wrist. The one on the right seems to be dealing with an opponent on the floor, but it’s an interesting pose non the less. I tried to give the blades that sci-fi feel by painting them a light yellow blade. It works but it implies the light saber/power sword weapons seen in some universes. Below is a different angle of the same two hand to hand models. You can also see the basing that I did for these. Nothing that hard but I think it works foe these figs, giving an urban feel to them and contrasting with the hopefully plastic/man made armor look I tried to go with for the figures themselves.The last three figures are the specialists in the force. The heavy weapons trooper, the communications specialist and lastly the sniper. These three all are important to different styles of play but it’s interesting in such a small force that you get these different figures in deadline. Having not read those rules I’m not sure how they fit into that but for more generic gaming these give some nice options.A second shot of the specialist shows the other side of them. I do like how they have these in the set as it also gives some interesting ideas for scenarios, or at least reasons why a small crew of figs may get into a close firefight. The kneeing model I think is a drone operator, but I have yet to paint the drones so we’ll see what happens to them.Lastly, there is the leader of this group. He is the one in real power armor. As he also has a cloak and one of the powered/special melee weapons I at least assumed he was the leader.

This is not a bad model and more in line with space marines. I did the cloak purple as that is a very leadership colour. This guy does fit in well with the other troops though, so even if not the leader he gets the bling being the big armored figure.

Like many of the mantic models in this kickstarter (and range) the material that these models are made of is not the greatest. It works but I did not like it really. I don’t think that made such a difference for my liking of the models but it did not help when putting them together. But they are done now and ready for the gaming table.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/mantic-space-marinesenforcer-troops/feed/0mellis1644DAK platoon individually based https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/dak-platoon-individually-based/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/dak-platoon-individually-based/#respondSun, 15 Oct 2017 01:39:25 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=10913Continue reading →]]>So regular readers know I have been busy doing my German WW2 project, which will mostly be for the Eastern front, but can work for other European theaters. Meanwhile, the local guys have been coming up with a plan for a big group game this winter (Yippee), which based in North Africa (what…er wait a minute…we are doing what…ah ok whatever).

OK, I admit it’s not as bad as all that really.

I should mention that before I started this blog I already had done a Flames of War (FoW) v1 Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) army. So a North African mega game is really not a bad thing. I can use my DAK army or actually use this as an excuse to get a British 8th army force done to stand against my DAK forces. I always like to do match pairs of forces so that I can loan out figs to others for games if needed. So getting a British army done is not that much of a pain really for me. But it does mean more work painting WW2 troops but more of that when I get some of them done.

I did realize though that if I’m going to use my DAK forces for games other than FoW then I likely need some individually based DAK infantry figures. So after a trip to my local friendly game store which stocks battlefront miniatures, I picked up another DAK platoon to paint up. The figs have changed a little since I first painted my force but I did find a pack of metal models vs. the new plastic ones. The other issue in this though is that I don’t write down ‘paint plans/receipies’ or anything for old projects. I had to match the final effect of new figs with the existing ones as best as possible. Below is a picture of a couple of bases of the existing figures, which I used as a starting point for that.So, after playing around a little with various paints and effects I have got quite close to the original figures. They are not perfect but they are close enough that I doubt anyone but me, or a reader of this blog, will know they were painted at different times. All the other figs in this post show the new painted platoon.

Below you can see three ‘command bases’ of the new platoon. These used a couple of the FoW bases as although the aim is to have figs based for other games I thought I could get away with a few bases with multiple figs – just not the standard numbers seen in FoW.The battlefront platoon had three LMG teams – all prone on the ground. Again, it did not make sense to have these separately based so I used more of the FoW bases for these. I like that the set did have some LMG’s set and in action.Here you can see the same bases from directly above. Two have just the LMG figs and on the third I added a rifleman to the base. In this pose it makes sense to group these together.The rest of the figures are based on pennies. This gives the most flexibility for gaming. You can see below another 3 LMG figures from the pack based this way. These guys are lugging the guns forward which in another nice pose. The rest of the squads are just armed with rifles.I’m not sure if I got the DAK uniform colors correct the first time I painted these, but just like many German troops and vehicles the real colour seems to be open to debate or interpretation. The nice thing about using the light green as a base with fading for the uniform is that this is quite different than the Brits or Italians. This is the color which is shown in some of the color shots of uniforms I have in books. The effects of the sun fading it was drastic though but these guys will be fighting in fairly new kit I guess. As normal I used a wash on the flesh which works nicely. For the desert I have left a few of the figures with a heavier shade than normal. I expect that the fair skinned Germans suffered sunburns just like the rest of us. I purposely made the webbing slightly lighter in colour than it was in reality. This matches what I have done previously and at this scale the webbing tends to disappear unless something like this is done on it. Even black lining does not help that much without the extra emphasis. That and the helmet are nice contrasts to the uniforms, which I think helps make these figs work.So that’s 35 new figs – all that came with the DAK platoon blister. Their individual basing means that I can use them for all sorts of games. Having them also allows them to be used for remaining figs after my FoW bases start to take casualties if I start games using them.

]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/dak-platoon-individually-based/feed/0mellis1644German Marder 3 tank destroyershttps://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/08/german-marder-3-tank-destroyers/
https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/08/german-marder-3-tank-destroyers/#respondSun, 08 Oct 2017 21:36:52 +0000http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/?p=11305Continue reading →]]>Ok so for this post I return back to the theme I have been working on for a while – painting up my German WW2 army. It’s also Canadian thanksgiving this weekend so time for Turkey and eating too much, not for focusing on gaming this weekend. So for this post it’s some tank destroyers I have to show. All are from battlefront and part of the original army boxed set that I got many years ago. They were not the most effective weapons the Germans had but can be useful all the same. They are vulnerable in urban area’s and vs. infantry (being open topped) as well as not having enough armour to stand up against the larger Russian tanks. But they are fast and small which gives them some savings graces. In most games that makes their point values fairly low as well – which helps in game balance. That maybe did not make as much of a difference in real life for the crews though. I believe these were based on the chassis of tanks which were at that point outclassed on the battlefield. So somewhat cost effective to produce for the Nazi war machine.The paint effect is different than my other tanks but follows the same theme. This allows them to fit into the overall force nicely. They are small though and although the kits went together well they were a little fiddley. They seem very small compared to other tanks.Along with these I finished a few of the crew figures which come with the tanks. Most of these were for pinned markers at the time, but they are useful as generic wounded or other markers. I only did three of them as there are limits to the number which will be needed.Lastly in this post, is a small collection of wooden ‘dug in’ markers. Again these are from the original flames of war box set. I have not used these for a while in a game but as I have them it makes sense to paint them up. They may be useful at some point in games.So a few more recruits to my German forces ready for the table.]]>https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/10/08/german-marder-3-tank-destroyers/feed/0mellis1644